


The Last Guardian Angel

by kalkoenvsneoklak



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Barrels everywhere, Castiel is Trico, Dean Has a Fear of Heights, Gen, Hurt Castiel, Kid Sam Winchester, Mystery, Shapeshifting, Teenage Dean Winchester, The Last Guardian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-11-16 12:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11252754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalkoenvsneoklak/pseuds/kalkoenvsneoklak
Summary: For years, all they’ve heard were stories. They were long, terrifying tales about the great man-eating beasts that sometimes swoop into villages and take children along. Whenever one of these children would be taken, they would never be seen again.Of course, as far as Dean knows, it’s mostly just history. Indeed, for years in the past, children have been disappearing. But it’s been about two decades since that has last happened. The elders have never really stopped believing in them, but the children, by now, just only see this tale as a horror story.After waking up in a strange cave, Dean and Sam find themselves a long way from home with a large creature called Castiel by their side. When Castiel claims that he can't remember how they've gotten there, the three seek to find a way out of this unknown place. But the closer they think they get, the more questions they seem to have; who lived here? Where are they now? Is Castiel the only one of his kind?It's a long journey ahead of them, and it's a possibility that not all of them will make it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I played the Last Guardian back in January. I heard so many good things about it, and when I saw it in the store I didn't hesitate but just bought it. I guess it was the best 33 euro's I've ever spent on any game.  
> I was literally sobbing towards the end of the story - I've never cried so much for anything movie-book-game related. This story will probably always stay close to me, and after I had recovered enough from it, I decided to start this story.  
> Now, at first I planned on making Castiel a completely different creature, but eventually I decided to use Trico's design. I mean, have you looked at them? They're the most adorable creature ever created in my opinion!  
> I still messed around with the details, as the fact that Castiel can turn human while Trico couldn't. The changing eye-colors also differ a bit.  
> Anyway, in case you haven't played the game yet, and still wish to do so without spoilers, it's best you don't read this. I will follow the story closely (which means I will bring just as few answers as the game brought us)
> 
> The story won't be long, probably around four or five chapters, though I'm not sure about the exact number yet. I'll try to update regularly, but I've never been quite good at that. 
> 
> Lastly, there might be some implied Destiel in here, but I figured it wouldn't fit too much into the story so it's really nothing more than that. In the end you may choose if you see them as 'together' or not.

For years, all they’ve heard were stories. They were long, terrifying tales about the great man-eating beasts that sometimes swoop into villages and take children along. Whenever one of these children would be taken, they would never be seen again.

Of course, as far as Dean knows, it’s mostly just history. Indeed, for years in the past, children have been disappearing. But it’s been about two decades since that has last happened. The elders have never really stopped believing in them, but the children, by now, just only see this tale as a horror story.

When Dean wakes up, though, it’s clear that he was wrong. No longer is he lying on his small cot in their room. No longer is there a blanket thrown over his body. Instead, what he’s feeling is stones poking him in the ribs through a strange, rough fabric. Against his back, something is continuously touching, as if someone is breathing heavily next to him.  

Oh, his head aches intensely. Dean wants to put his hand against it and rub it gently, but he finds that he can’t really move a lot. Maybe he should, first, try to find a way out of where-ever he’s currently in. But even opening his eyes doesn’t help much, as he’s still surrounded by darkness, in a way too small space.

With his hands he searches for any way that will help him out of this place. He looks for rips or holes, but eventually just finds a simple opening where his feet are. With trouble, he turns himself around. Crawling through the opening hurts his eyes a little bit, despite the fact that it’s not _that_ light outside. After a few seconds of getting used to it, it’s clear to him that he’s no longer at home.

“What the-?” he asks, squeezing his eyes shut as he tries to think back. It’s not like he drank too much with the rest of the tribe as far as he can remember? But, at the same time, he can’t even recall going back to bed last night.

He’s in a cave, the only source of light being an opening in the ceiling, big enough to fit a house but just too high to reach. It might be a possible way out if Dean finds anything to get him up there, but the chances are slim.

Alright, up is not the way to go. Quickly and silently, he inspects the place around him. There’s no visible way out, but there seems to be a stone structure there. It looks old, covered by moss due to long years of being unattended.

Did somebody live here?

Before Dean can think about figuring out what exactly he’s been lying in, a familiar figure comes in his view. It’s a little boy, not much older than ten years old, with sloppy brown curls. Instantly, Dean’s heart makes a jump and he hurries out of the bag – blanket, whatever he was stuck in. A grunt escapes his mouth when he falls on his face and scratches his cheek, but right now his only worry is lying on the ground, unmoving.

“Sammy!” Dean whispers loudly, unsure if he can shout here. Who knows what’s lurking in these caves, after all.

Sam groans a little bit, turning around until his face is pointed at Dean, and though he doesn’t open his eyes, Dean knows he has his little brother’s attention.

“Dean?” Sammy asks, voice hoarse and quiet. He seems extremely tired, but as far as Dean can see there are no visible wounds on him.

The only thing that’s different are the sudden markings on his entire body.

“Sammy, are you alright?” Dean asks in a whisper. Sam quietly sits up again and nods while rubbing his head. He seems completely disoriented, so it’s surely no use asking him where exactly they are. When Dean looks down, he sees that Sam isn’t wearing any shoes, still stuck in his sleeping clothes.

Dean, too, so it seems. Who-ever has taken them, it must have done it during their sleep.

“Why am I covered in markings?” Sam asks Dean when the boy seems to get a good look at his arms and legs. He’s completely covered, the markings going up under his chin. They’re thick, black figures, possibly symbols, but without any meaning that Dean could understand.

“I don’t know, Sammy. But we better get out of here and figure out where we are,” Dean mutters. He crawls back up, trying to help his little brother back on his feet. With his hands on Sam’s arm, he pulls him up, but before Sam is standing, he sputters back in obvious shock. A loud gasp escapes his mouth, eyes gone wide from fear.

Just when Dean is about to ask what’s going on, something enormous lets out a long breath behind Dean. The teenager stiffens, almost afraid to turn around. Whatever it is, it seems to have spooked Sam enormously. The kid is almost scrambling back behind a rock, motioning for Dean to join him.

“Please don’t be a giant monster, please don’t be a giant monster,” Dean whispers to himself. With his entire body stiff as a stick, Dean slowly turns around with small footsteps. He tries the best he can to keep his breath in, and he barely keeps himself from squeezing his eyes shut.

Behind him lay perhaps the biggest giant monster he’s ever imagined. The beast is completely covered in huge feathers, once a very light grey but now mostly covered in blood. Its ears are light and pink on the inside with blue fur on the outside. Next to that, they’re _huge_. On the top of its head are two blue glowing horns, though they seem like they’ve been broken off recently.

The beast’s face looks cat-like. It has dark lines going downwards underneath its eyes, and next to its beak-like nose there are whiskers almost as thick as Dean’s fingers, and twice the length of his arms. Its eyes are closed, but from the nose long and warm bursts of air break out. Its breathing is fast, as if it’s in pain or just did something extremely exhausting.

Dean can’t see much more than this; a face, which must be five times Dean’s size. He quickly realizes it’s extremely dangerous to stay around here, so after a short nod towards Sam, the two brothers bolt out of there, heading into what seems an opening in the cave.

“Hurry up!” Dean whispers loudly, hoping they wouldn’t wake the beast up. Despite that they’ve been speaking even softer than before, it seems like the beast has had enough of sleep. A low growl escapes from its throat, and Dean can see the beast stretch out its limbs. It’s a wonder, even, that the thing fits in this cave to begin with.

“Holy shit, Dean!” Sam almost shouts. Dean quickly understands why; the beast has opened its eyes, and they are completely white, bright enough to illuminate the ground underneath its head. Its gaze seems infinite, and Dean isn’t really sure if it’s looking at them or just staring straight ahead of it.

They continue their run to the end of the cave, finding a place too high for any of them to reach, even _with_ a boost.

“Crap!” Dean curses. Quick, he needs to think. Maybe there’s anything around here that can serve them as a rope? If Sammy can climb up and get the hell out of here, it would be good enough for Dean.

A loud groan of pain comes from far behind them, and Dean dares to cast a look over his shoulders. He finds the beast trying to stand up, but failing. The ground shakes when it smacks back down on the ground. In its hip, a long spear seems to have found its way in.

If Dean can get that spear, he would have a weapon. Even if the beast is still ten time’s Dean’s size – but that’s probably a big exaggeration, since it still fits in the cave – at least Dean wouldn’t be _completely_ defenseless.

“Stay here,” Dean tells him before sneaking back towards the opening. He’s aware of his brother protesting behind him, but he simply ignores it. There’s a thick, shining chain lying on the ground, moving whenever the beast moves.

 _So it’s chained,_ Dean understands. It might not be long enough for it to reach Sam, which is comforting enough.

The moment Dean gets closer to the beast, its eyes seem to be pointed at him once more, only now they aren’t white anymore, but completely black. It doesn’t look angry, but more curious. Dean doesn’t want to be optimistic here and think that it won’t kill him. With his hands raised up in the air, he slowly starts walking forward, heading towards the spear.

The beast simply follows his movement, tilting its head to the side when Dean grabs a hold of the spear. Once the teenager starts pulling, it twitches. A sound escapes from its mouth, and Dean isn’t sure if it’s a whine or a grunt. It’s obvious, though, that it isn’t having the time of its life right now.

Dean falls down on the ground when the spear comes loose. His back hits a pointy rock, and his arms scrape against the sharp pebbles down. With one hand, Dean gently strokes his head, shaking his head to try and clear his vision once more.

Next to him, the beast is angrily flopping its wings – it actually has _wings! -_ trying to fly away from here but obviously failing. It does as it pleases, Dean thinks while grabbing the spear and scrambling back once more. The beast growls when Dean points his weapon at him.

“Dean!” Sam shouts behind him. Dean holds out one hand to quiet him down. He’s not too surprised when his little brother is, despite his earlier instruction, suddenly standing behind him. “I don’t think it wants to hurt us.”

Of course, it’s worth to mention that Sam is still very young no matter _how_ mature he wants to pretend to be. It’s easy for him to believe that a monster with _such_ a huge beak and claws wouldn’t want to hurt them by just looking cute with enormous eyes. Just like a cat or a dog would.

“Stay back, Sam,!” Dean tells him, but the younger boy keeps on walking. Dean quickly reaches for Sam’s arm and pulls him back. “Are you crazy?!”

“It still has a spear stuck in its shoulder. If you won’t remove it, I will,” Sam says strongly with his hands balled into tight fists. Dean raises an eyebrow, surprised at his brother’s sudden attitude. Then he shakes his head and drops the spear, making the beast stop growling, and once more twisting his head to the side.

Right… no, Dean is still not sure if Sam has a point here.

“You go look for something to eat first, I’ll take care of that spear,” Dean orders. Sam nods, turning around in search for anything edible. If they find a way to feed the beast, maybe then it wouldn’t want to eat them?

With his hands once again held up, Dean walks forward towards the beast. It’s enormous eyes seem to follow every movement, but it doesn’t seem annoyed by him in any way. When Dean puts a hand on what must be the beast’s arm, it flinches a little bit, but doesn’t react otherwise.

“Alright,” Dean mutters. “Let’s get that thing out and see how friendly you are.” The beast allows him to climb up, but when it sees that Dean is once again headed for the spear, it startles. Dean barely holds on as it tries to get up again, but the spear seems to hinder him, instead making him drop once more.

“Calm down, damn it! It’ll only hurt for a few seconds,” Dean mutters. The beast still twists and turns when Dean grabs a hold of the spear, and he’s almost squashed against the wall before he can pull the thing out.

Once again, the beast whines, making big movements with its wings. Because of its strong motions, Dean doesn’t manage to grab a hold of him and eventually smashes back down on the ground, face once more scratching against the rocks.

A grunt of pain escapes his mouth. It stings quite a bit, and Dean is sure that they’ll have to clean the wound, pick out the little stones that might be stuck in it.

But those are worries for later. Right now he needs to make sure that he won’t be eaten by a giant beast. His muscles protest when he forces himself upright. It takes way too long for him to get back on his feet, so instead he crawls towards a big rock and leans his back against it. Next to him, the beast seems to struggle equally. While the spears are no longer in it, the pain seems too much, still.

“I didn’t find anything other than these weird glowing barrels!” Sam shouts in a whisper from behind him. The beast looks up once more, having forgotten the pain all of the sudden with the nearing of the weird barrel. Dean wants to protest when Sam walks right up to the face of the beast, but then his little brother drops the barrel and takes a few steps back again. “Here you go, let’s get some strength in you again!”

The beast lets out a grunt that almost sounds like a ‘thanks’ to Dean. With its snout it turns the barrel around a little bit. When he takes a good sniff of it, the beast seems content at last and before Dean knows it the barrel is gone.

Whatever the glowing stuff is, the beast seems to like it.

“Maybe it can help us out of here?” Sam suddenly says. Dean frowns and lets his mouth drop open.

“Are you insane! We’re practically rats next to it! Before we know it we’re stuck in its stomach!”

But Sam shakes his head and nods towards the beast while crossing his arms. “It does seem quite interested in you, but not like it wants to eat you. Stop flattering yourself.”

Dean rolls his eyes. He should probably get up from against the rock. After a deep breath, Dean pushes himself up again, and notes that, indeed, the beast seems to follow him again with its eyes. When Dean steps to the right, the beast’s head turns to the same direction.  

“Are you a friendly one?” Dean asks carefully. He holds out his hand once more, wondering if he’s absolutely crazy. The beast lifts up its big ears, as if it’s listening intently. The closer Dean gets, the lower the beast puts its head. Once Dean is close enough to actually touch it, the beast one again closes its eyes and allows Dean to touch its nose.

“Huh,” Dean huffs out in surprise, unable to hold back a grin. When he turns around to look at Sam, he sees his little brother look back at him smugly. Dean rolls his eyes once more and shakes his head, not paying any more attention to his annoying little brother.

“Anyway, I found another barrel further back,” Sam says, pointing back to the stone structure. “I’ll bring it here so it can eat more.”

The beast opens its eyes again and leans forward a bit until his whole head is pressing against Dean, pushing him back a little bit because of its size.

“Whoa, there! I’m tiny, remember?” Dean calls out, and the beast immediately pulls back, as if it understood what Dean said. Dean frowns a little bit wondering if he was just imagining that. “Can you understand what I’m saying?”

The beast lets out a long and deep growl – not an angry one, but more happy. It closes its eyes and shakes its head a bit the way a dog would do if it got wet. This must be, by far, the weirdest creature Dean has ever encountered.

“Dean! There are two barrels here so I’m throwing one down, can you take it?” Sam asks from further away. When Dean turns around he can see his little brother standing on top of the stone structure, indeed holding a glowing barrel in his hands. Dean nods, leaving the beast where it is to join his little brother.

“Just throw it down, I’ll pick it up,” Dean suggests, but Sam seems to hesitate.

“Won’t it break?” he asks. Dean just snorts.

“It might, but if you throw it at me _I’ll_ surely break,” Dean counters, and Sam nods in understanding. “Besides, they look strong enough. I’m sure they can handle a little kick.”

And Dean is right. When Sam lets go of the barrel, it drops down the small height and ends up, unscathed, on the ground. In quick movements, Dean is there to pick it up, finding that it’s indeed quite heavy. Sure, Dean manages just fine with it, but he can imagine that his brother would quickly get tired of carrying this thing around.

Once he’s standing in front of the beast again, it’s staring right at the barrel in Dean’s hand with the biggest interest. Dean drops it down in front of its face and takes a few steps back. The thing has huge teeth, and Dean doesn’t really want to get too close to those.

The first barrel is quickly gone, and once Sam arrives with the second one it, too, disappears in just a matter of seconds. Sam leans a bit against Dean, letting out a long yawn and rubbing his eyes.

“I’m tired, Dean,” Sam mutters. The teenager looks at his brother in worry, wondering if there’s anything wrong. There’s not really any place for them to sleep on other than the hard stones on the ground. It might be too much off long shot to nestle against the beast’s belly.

“Can my brother sleep against you?” Dean asks the beast loudly. Sam doesn’t say anything more, keeping his hands close to his eyes while leaning further against Dean. The beast tilts its head to the side again, and then lowers it forward until it’s right in front of the brothers. With its eyes closed, it pushes its head back against the brothers in affirmation. Dean breathes out in relief, and Sam is quickly heading towards the warm space of the beast’s belly.

Dean, too, joins his little brother. He’s not planning on sleeping, but he wants to keep a close watch on his little brother. The younger kid sits down on the ground with his back pressed against the beast’s belly. When Dean sits next to him, the beast moves its wing until it’s covering them like a blanket.

Even though he didn’t plan it, Dean still fell asleep, feeling safe and warm underneath the dark feathers of the weirdest creature he has ever seen.

 

* * *

 

 

Dean doesn’t know how long he’s been asleep. When he wakes up, it’s by his little brother’s hands gently shaking him to get his attention. Behind Dean’s back, he feels some sort of rumbling underneath soft fur.

“What?” Dean mutters while rubbing his eyes. Opening his eyes, he realizes that they’re still in the cave and it wasn’t a dream at all. Great, that means that they still need to find a way out of here. With a grunt, Dean gets himself up from where he’s seated. The beast lets out a happy growl behind him, but Dean ignores it.

They can’t get _too_ comfortable with it; it’s not like they can take it home afterwards.

“Dean, we should find our way out,” Sam tells him in a low voice, though sneaking isn’t really necessary anymore. Dean nods shortly before looking back at the place they had found. It had been too high for them to reach, but if they can get the beast loose, it might be able to get them up.

“Let’s get this guy loose then, first. We might get a lift,” Dean says, pointing at the enormous monster behind him. Sam nods shortly, but he still seems a bit nervous. Then, Dean turns around to face the beast, finding it staring right back at him with its glowing white eyes. It blinks a few times before lowering its head and pressing it against Dean once more, as if it wants to be petted by him.

“Cut it out,” Dean mutters, refusing to do so. A little whine escapes the beast’s mouth, but it does pull back after that. Dean then kneels down to observe the chain. He picks up the spear from the ground and tries to break it with it. When that doesn’t seem to work, Dean decides to go to the collar itself.

Whoever decided to chain the beast up, they used really primitive materials. Had the beast healed enough, it might even have been able to free itself with its claws if it tried hard enough. The most effort Dean has to put in here is crawling up the beast to get a good look at the collar.

“Seems like there’s some sort of lever here,” Dean mutters, feeling suspicious at how easy this seems to be going. With all the strength he has, he pulls the lever down and with it he opens up the collar. The thing drops down on the ground, and immediately the beast jumps up from where he had been lying.

With Dean still on its back, the teenager can’t help but let out a small shout at the sudden height he’s finding himself on. The beast stands on his hands and feet (his paws?), seeming too big to fit well enough here. Like a dog, it starts to shake itself. Dean grabs on tightly to its fur.

“Hey! Stop that you idiot!” Dean shouts at the beast, and immediately it stops, turning its head to the side as if it wants to look at Dean. Then, with one of its gigantic paws, it takes Dean by his shirt and pulls him off its back. When it puts him back down on the ground, it does it gently, as if it’s afraid of hurting him.

Dean struggles loose from the hold the moment he’s on the ground. He throws the beast an angry glare, and ignores the sad sound that comes out of it because of that. An annoyed sigh escapes his throat. They should get moving; they’ve been wasting enough time here, and Dean really wants to get back to the tribe.

Sam follows him when Dean heads back to the space they found when they first woke up. Because of the small tremors on the ground, Dean knows that the beast is following them. The way it moves on its hands and feet, it seems like it’s used to walking like this. Dean can finally get a good look at the beast completely now, though, and finds that its body is indeed fit to walk on four legs, but just as well to walk up straight like humans do.

“The weird never stops with this guy,” Dean mutters. He nods towards the edge they want to crawl up to, and the beast tilts its head a bit to the side. Then it moves forward until it’s standing right next to it, and both Dean and Sam crawl up at last.

“Hey, there’s another barrel up here!” Sam says once he’s up. He’s a lot faster than Dean is, and by the time Dean’s up as well, the barrel is already thrown down. “There’s a small opening here, but I don’t think you’ll fit, Dean.”

“Don’t you dare go in there!” Dean calls out, but when he looks he finds that his brother is already crawling through the opening he was talking about.

“I’ll be back quickly, I’ll just check it out,” Sam calls out, voice muffled through the other side. Then he’s gone, and Dean is left with the beast.

“Damn it, that little brat!” Dean hisses bitterly. He hears the beast eat up the barrel, and after that it goes lying down on the ground as if it’s waiting for Sam to return as well. Dean slowly crawls back down again, eager to find himself back on proper ground. He can feel the beast watching him the moment he lets go.

Dean takes his distance, leaning back against the wall of the cave. He drops down as well, studying the beast just as equally.

It must have been magnificent once, with its fur as white as snow and its hugeness. Now, with all the blood upon it, it seems more like a murder machine instead of a freakishly cuddly creature. When Dean takes a closer look, he notices some weird marking on its head.

“Why is there a thirteen on your forehead?” Dean mutters in confusion. He almost wants to get closer to check it out, but then decides against it. He doesn’t really want to interact with the beast more than he has to.

The beast lowers its head shortly, but doesn’t answer – it can’t speak, so Dean’s question is kind of useless. Dean just rolls his eyes and leans his head back. He just hopes that, where-ever Sam is currently finding himself, he’s having a better time than Dean is.

After what must be ten minutes, Sam finally returns with low grunts as he crawls back through the small opening. Dean looks up the moment he hears him, and a smile appears on his face once Sam emerges at last. In his hands, there seems to be a weird-looking knife and a round plate.

“I found some things,” Sam says. The beast then looks up as well, startling when it sees the weird thing Sam has brought along. “What’s wrong, boy?”

Dean snorts, feeling the strong urge to tell Sam that he can’t know it’s a boy but keeping himself in.

“What’s it do?” Dean asks from below. Sam shrugs.

“I don’t know, when I held it out like this and pressed the button on the side, this happened,” Sam says while showing Dean what he means. As it turns out, it seems to let out a ray of light to where-ever Sam points it. The beast tilts its head to the side once more.

Is it Dean, or is its tail glowing?

“Sam, what are you doing?” Dean asks, but before the younger boy can stop, a strong beam of light comes out of the beast’s tail and a strong and loud blast is headed to where Sam is pointing. The beast startles once more, and Dean jumps away from the wall, pressing his hands against his ears instinctively because of the loud noise.

“What the hell?!” Dean shouts when he feels a few small rocks fall down on his back. The beast lets out a roar and runs towards Dean to shield him further from the falling debris. “What did you just do?!”

Sam looks at the shield in utter confusion, holding it out as if he’s afraid of it. Once the coast is clear again, Dean pulls away from the beast and points towards his brother.

“Get him off of there,” Dean tells him, and the beast stares long at him before reaching for Sam with its large paw and plucking him off the edge with his claws. “Now show me that thing.”

Dean could have sworn that, while Sam was pointing the thing, weird symbols seemed to shine on the plate. Now, though, it looks completely dark and useless. He turns it around and indeed finds some sort of button next to the handle, but he doesn’t press it. It wouldn’t really do to blow themselves up right here.

“What else you got?” Dean asks, and Sam takes the shield back before handing Dean the knife he had been holding earlier. It’s a small thing, and extremely light in Dean’s hand. On the blade there are more symbols Dean cannot read. The knife looks deadly, but not like it can cause much damage if they were under attack by an army.

Dean actually prefers his brother not carrying any sharp weapons like these as long as Dean is there to protect him. While Dean pulls a little cord loose from his trousers, he makes a knot on the knife and attaches it to the pants he’s currently wearing. With another cord, though a longer one, he makes another knot to the shield and helps Sam putting it over his shoulder.

“There, you keep this thing, I’ll keep the knife. As long as this one here is around, you will be protected,” Dean says while pointing at the beast next to them. Sam nods with wide eyes. When Dean ruffles his hair, a quiet protest comes from the younger Winchester boy. “Now what exactly did you see there?”

Sam shrugs while looking at the shield in his hands. “It was just a white, cold room. It was spacey, full of markings on the walls.” With that, Sam points at the dark things on his skin to indicate that the markings are the same. Dean nods in understanding.

“And further?” he presses on.

“It seemed like some sort of tomb? That’s where I found the shield and knife,” Sam adds. He chuckles when the beast presses its head against his back much like it did with Dean earlier. Dean is horrified to see his brother simply stroking it on the fur as if it were another dog. A happy whine comes out when Sam scratches it between the eyes.

“Anyway,” Dean mutters, wanting to get this thing going. “With the blast from the shield, maybe we can find our way out?” He nods back towards the bigger part of the cave, and Sam agrees. He lets go of the beast and spurts forward.

“I saw some sort of wooden door that we might be able to take down,” he says. Dean simply follows, knowing that the beast will do so as well. The moment he joins his little brother, Sam is a decent distance away from the door Dean hadn’t noticed before, and he’s already shining a light towards it. Behind them, the heavy footsteps of the beast grow nearer until it’s standing behind them. They’re not really surprised when the bright light of the blast appears, but it’s still a loud bang that makes them bend double.

After the smoke moves away again, the brothers find themselves staring at a road ahead of them. This is it, they’ve found their way out, so it seems. Dean starts walking immediately; there’s no way he’s letting Sam walk in front. Who knows what might be waiting for them, there?

“Dean!” Sam shouts behind him. “Wait for me!”

Together, the two brothers walk into what looks like a huge cave. There’s a small walkable path on their left, though there are some huge pots lying in the middle of their way. Before Dean can think about a way to walk around them, Sam starts to climb up. Dean’s heart jumps when there’s a small noise of movement coming from the things.

“Careful, Sammy!” Dean mutters, ready to grab for Sam’s shirt if necessary. The younger boy just huffs and climbs up. When he’s suddenly out of Dean’s view, the boy figures he’s on the other side.

“Are you coming, old man?”

Dean smirks, rolling up the sleeves of his shirt and setting the first step on the pot. It moves a bit underneath him, but not in a way that says it will roll away immediately.

“I’ll show you who’s an old man,” Dean mutters, pulling himself further up, careful of what he’s doing. It’s not that it’s hard to go up, but it’s quite a drop on the side; one that Dean rather doesn’t want to experience if this whole structure falls apart.

When the ground shakes a bit, Dean freezes. Crap, it’s going to fall!

But no, he quickly realizes it’s not the pots, but rather the large creature from earlier. As it appears, the beast is following them with gigantic eyes observing them. Its giant bird-like paws make the ground shake with each step it takes. In comparison to the small space it was in earlier, this place seems a lot more comfortable for it.

“Stupid mutt,” Dean mutters. The beast gave him a fright for a second, which is something he _really_ doesn’t need. He decides to just ignore its huge black inspecting eyes. With a grunt, he pulls himself up that last bit before finally being able to look to the other side. There he can see Sam already a little further away, obviously not even waiting for him.

“Stupid curious impatient brat,” Dean continues his complaints. Slowly, with extreme caution, Dean climbs back down on the other side. His foot feels close to slipping away a few times, but he always manages to stay up.

Then the pots suddenly start rolling away. A loud shriek escapes Dean’s mouth when he feels himself getting closer to the edge, and without thinking much further about it, he pushes himself away from the pots, landing roughly on the floor and scraping the skin on his right arm and his face even more than before.

He groans in pain, hearing the sound of solidified clay dropping over the edge, too much of a drop to even hear them come down. With painful movements, Dean turns himself around to see the beast walking closer, pawing away at one of the pots like its surprised they would just move by his touch.

Dean groans once more and drops his face on the ground in frustration. _That beast is going to kill me one day,_ he thinks to himself. Alright, he can stay down here for a few more seconds before he has to hurry after Sam. His whole body hurts from the fall, and can use all the time he has.

“Dean?” comes from further away. Dean’s only response is lifting his hand to wave at his brother; an indication that he’s just fine. Sam doesn’t ask anything further, so Dean figures he’s walking ahead again.

He figures he can’t catch a break when suddenly something picks him up by the back of his shirt. His eyes fly open, where he can see the ground slowly getting further away from him. His arms and legs hang down , and for a moment it feels like the whole world is turning.

 _Is that mutt picking me up?_ Dean thinks to himself, and when he dares to turn his head he can see that, indeed, the back of his shirt is clamped tightly in the beast’s beak.

“Damnit! Put me down!” Dean complains, but the beast doesn’t listen to him. Instead, it starts to follow Sam with large steps, making Dean swing around until he’s almost starting to feel nauseous. He can’t figure a way to escape without it resulting in another fall, which is something Dean would rather avoid.

 _Please tell me we’re not stuck with this thing for the rest of our lives_ , Dean begs to an invisible force that might be listening. He’s never been much of a believer in any deity the village wishes to worship, but one cannot be safe enough when their life is in trouble.

After what feels like hours but isn’t actually more than two minutes, the beast decides to drop Dean again. A grunt escapes Dean’s mouth the moment he touches the ground. Immediately, he straightens his shirt and shakes his limbs loose. Yeah, he’s going to be bruised good by the evening – which makes him wonder; what time is it even now?

“Sammy?” Dean asks when he looks around and can’t find his brother at first sight. In front of them, there’s a large rock that indicates there’s no way forward. When Dean looks to his left, though, he finds some light seeping through somewhere.

“I’m on the other side, Dean!” Sam answers, and Dean hurries to the small opening in the rock. Once he gets closer, he sees that it’s just large enough to fit him. One look at the beast behind him, and he understands that this is it.

“Well, pal, it’s was a pleasure, but now our ways must part,” Dean says, saluting the beast with a smirk on his face. While the beast looks sad with its gigantic black eyes, Dean is simply just glad to be rid of it. Without thinking too much about it, he nods once more and walks through the opening, leaving the beast behind.

The moment he’s on the other side, the blinding light forces him to close his eyes. He’s outside, alright! And it can’t be later than noon, since he can feel the sun high in the sky shining bright upon his skin. With his eyes still closed, Dean rolls his sleeves up once more and slowly moves around his hands to feel if he’s walking against something.

If there’s a whimpering sound behind him coming from the beast, Dean ignores it.

After what must be a minute, Dean opens his eyes again, finding himself surrounded by green all around him. His mouth falls open upon seeing so much nature around him. Heck he lives in the middle of a forest, and even this is a sight to behold!

The wind is blowing in the trees, making the leaves rustle against each other. Underneath his bare feet is nothing other than soft and healthy grass, though more to his side he sees that the grass comes up higher than his hips in some places.

“Dean?” Sam’s familiar voice suddenly asks. Dean turns his head to the side, seeing his younger brother run up to him with gasps of breath, looking as excited as when Uncle Bobby returns from a hunt with some delicious meat.

But the moment Sam is at his side, the smile falters and instead a frown takes its place. He looks over Dean’s shoulder, and then around, searching for something. Dean already as a small idea as to what.

“Where is he?” Sam asks worriedly. Dean just shrugs, turning back towards the huge rock he came out of.

“He didn’t fit. ‘s Not like we can take him along to the village, anyway,” Dean explains calmly. In just too short a time, Sam seems to have developed some sort of adoration for the beast. It’s probably typical for kids his age, but Dean wishes he wouldn’t have looked so disappointed.

“No! The poor guy! We need to find a way out for him!” Sam counters. Then he plucks the shield from his back and gives it a good look. “I’ll smash the place with this!”

“Yeah, how about no,” Dean counters, taking the round object from him and holding it up high in the air so his brother can’t reach it. “Being crushed by rocks isn’t really the way I plan for us to go. Besides, it’s too big for a bolt of lightning to break.”

“Well, I can’t leave him here!” Sam snaps angrily. Then he runs past Dean and back to the opening behind them. Dean rolls his eyes and sighs in annoyance.

“Sam, wait, be realistic,” Dean mutters, running around to follow his brother, only to smash against him immediately. On his way, somehow Sam has stopped moving. Dean puts his hands on his brother’s shoulders and leans a bit to the side to see what has Sam sidetracked like that.

But then he sees it; in the opening, there’s another boy. He looks like a teenager, closer to Dean’s age. He has dark brown messy hair, and he’s wearing something that looks like a white toga with black shorts underneath. His feet, too, are bare.

“What the…?” Dean mutters. He’s just been in there not five minutes ago, and there wasn’t another boy there at all! The only other thing had been the beast, which must still be there, whining more because it can’t follow them.

Then, as the boy tries to take a step forward, he falls down on the ground. His arm grasps for his left shoulder, and he rolls onto his side with a painful grunt. Before Dean can stop him, Sam is already running his way to help him out.

“Damnit, Sam! Stop running to strange things!” Dean shouts at him, only to be ignored by his younger brother. He sees Sam kneel down carefully, holding out his hand to calm him down as he tries to take a look at the painful shoulder.

Dean kicks away a pebble and stands there. He doesn’t want to get closer; he doesn’t know the boy, and doesn’t owe him anything, either. The only thing he wants is to get back home – because as beautiful as this place is, it’s probably still far away from the village. Who knows how long their trek home will be. Dean would rather have left already.

“Dean?” Sam calls out for him. Dean rolls his eyes, and decides he can’t leave his brother alone with a stranger. With big steps, Dean walks towards his brother, and leans forward to have a look at the person they have there.

The moment he opens them, his blue eyes immediately meet with Dean’s. A gasp of breath escapes from Dean, especially after noticing his eyes seem to glow a little bit. Almost as if a click is made in his head, Dean kneels down and pushes Sam’s hands away. When he can see the wound, he notices that it’s already closing up. Despite that, the boy acts as if it still hurts a lot.

“Just, stay still,” Dean mutters. He grabs a hold of his long shirt and rips a few pieces off until he has something fit enough to pass as a sling. With Sam’s help, they get the boy to sit up, and Dean puts his arm in position. The boy looks at his limb in curiosity, and then looks up with something Dean figures is a smile.

“I thank you,” the boy says with a low and deep voice. Upon hearing himself speak, the boy frowns and puts his free hand on his throat. He tries to clear it a few times, as if he’s attempting of removing whatever is stuck in there.

“Yeah, no problem,” Dean huffs out. Now that the glowing blue eyes aren’t looking at him anymore, Dean finds it easier to pull away again. He gets back up on his feet, turning his head back towards the opening in the rock. Without saying anything, Dean walks back to it, taking a look to the other side but finding the beast missing.

The boy that has suddenly joined doesn’t seem very _normal_ , Dean thinks to himself. Besides the glowing blue eyes, now it also has a wound in the exact same spot Dean pulled a spear out earlier from the Beast’s body? But, if the boy is who Dean thinks he is, then he would also have a wound in the leg, which so far he hasn’t given any indication of having.

“Can you stand?” Sam asks behind him. Dean can hear a confirming sound, and then there’s some shifting as the boy tries to get up. “What’s your name?”

Dean turns around. Forget about the beast, what matters now is this boy, indeed. They need to figure out if he’s good or bad. If there’s even any indication that he might not be on their side, Dean needs to take Sam and bolt.

“Cas-Castiel,” the boy says, voice still as deep as before. Dean sees Sam nod with a smile, trying to look as peaceful as he can. Dean rolls his eyes, walking past the boy, trying not to catch his glowing eyes again.

“Well, _Cas_ , don’t slow us down, we’re trying to get home,” Dean mumbles, brushing his shoulder none-too-softly against the boy’s and making him take a step back in surprise.

“Dean!” Sam protests. Dean ignores him; his priority is to figure this place out before anything else. Upon looking in the space around him, he figures he’s surrounded by mountains and tall structures of some sort. There are some stuff hanging around, like dreamcatchers or something? It mostly looks like a playground for birds rather than a place for civilization. Besides the house-like thing they saw inside, there’s not a single building in sight here.

The sky is clear, but the more Dean looks up, the more he sees that they seem completely surrounded by the mountains. It’s actually more as if they’re inside a volcano of some sort. Dean shakes his head and moves to turn around, but that’s when he sees it.

A large white tower, higher than probably even the mountains.

“It calls to me,” the boy – Castiel – suddenly says next to him, lumping forward as his leg does seem to hurt. Dean startles, turning around to look at the boy. It surprises him how deep this boy’s voice really is.

“Right, reason enough _not_ to go there, I suppose,” Dean mutters. He huffs out a breath and turns back around to find some way of getting out of there.

“What are you doing?” Castiel asks.

“Getting out of here, didn’t you hear me the first time?” Dean snaps. Castiel stands still, not even acting like he’s planning on helping them. Sam, too, seems to forego searching for any path, instead looking at the white tower with interest.

“I don’t know, Dean, something tells me we need to get to that tower,” Sam says, pensive. Dean stops in his tracks, throws his arms up in the air, and groans in frustration.

“Listen, little brother, I don’t know who this dude is, and I don’t care if that tower _calls_ to anybody. One, that’s impossible, and two; That tower is in the middle of _everywhere_. The _middle_ is not where we need to go, we need to go to the border.”

“There’s nothing at the border,” Castiel then says. “There is no portal or entrance.”

“Then how did we get here?” Dean counters, and Castiel opens his mouth only to shut it again. “Ha, you don’t know anything, so it seems.” But when their eyes meet again, Dean feels his heart slow down a bit. His anger slips away, and his fists relax again.

What is it with these eyes?

“Listen, Dean, it might be in the middle, but it also looks like the highest point in the entire place. If we can get up there, we might be able to see where we are and how to escape,” Sam explains. Dean, who is still having a staring match with Castiel, breathes out heavily and bites on his lower lip. Eventually, he blinks and lowers his gaze.

“Let’s just… find a path or something,” Dean says. He doesn’t want to keep fighting the entire time. He knows that, even if he would go the opposite direction, his brother won’t follow him. The brat’s probably too curious about what’s in that tower.

The three search around for a moment, and eventually it’s Sam who finds a narrow pathway on the side of a cliff. It looks dangerous, and it’s most certainly a death trap, but it’s the only lead they’ve got so far. At least there are some chains put in the rocks where they can hold themselves on to.

“I’ll go first,” Sam says, still active and impatient due to his young age. Dean wants to stop him, but he’s not too sure if he can go first. Once again, there’s quite a deep drop down there, and he can feel his fingers stiffen.

By the time Sam is already halfway, Dean hasn’t even started moving.

“Dean?” Castiel asks, probably guessing his name since Dean never introduced himself to him. That, or Sam did it for him, because the brat would just do things like that. “Are you alright?”

Dean nods, swallowing deeply before taking a long breath. Alright, Sam is on the other side already, so Dean needs to hurry. Who knows what’s waiting for them there. He can’t leave his little brother out there without being able to protect him.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Castiel then says. Like that’s supposed to be reassuring. Dean doesn’t know anything about this guy. He really needs to start asking questions the moment they’re back on _good_ ground. Ground that won’t break under their feet. Right, he hates this place _so_ much.

His fingers are white from the tight grip he has on the chains. With his whole front pressed against the side of the cliff, Dean makes slow sideway steps. At one point there isn’t even anything left for his feet. He wonders if that means he has to jump, but quickly comes to the realization that he has to _hang_ on the chain and move that way.

Just kill him now.

“Don’t worry Dean, I’ll catch you if you fall,” Castiel suddenly says behind him. How is he even so close? Dean quickly turns around to look at the guy, figuring that when he says ‘I’ll be right behind you’ he actually _means_ ‘right behind you’. Creepy bastard.

“How even? You’re just as stable as I am, here,” Dean mutters. But, figuring he wants to put as much distance between him and the boy, he starts to move forward. His arms protest under the weight, but he’s been training with his father for long enough to handle it. It’s mostly just the fear of dropping that makes him go _extra_ slow.

“I’ll just catch you,” Castiel mumbles behind him, almost as if he doesn’t want Dean to hear it. Dean figures he’ll just ignore it. Right now, there isn’t any time for him to dwell on it. He’s still got little more to go before he has ground under his feet again.

After what feels like hours, Dean finally gets to feel the ground back under him. His arms are relieved when the weight is gone, and the next few steps go quickly; though that’s mostly because Dean has had enough of it.

“Sammy!” Dean calls out for his brother, but the moment he rounds the corner he figures that isn’t necessary. Sam is standing there, looking right at a building on the other side of the cliff. There seems to have been a bridge once, but it looks like it broke down a while back.

“Damnit Sam you really need to stop going so fast,” Dean grumbles the moment he joins his brother. Sam looks at Dean, and then points towards a wooden door on the building.

“I think I can blow that thing up,” Sam says, picking his shield back from his back. Before Dean can stop him, Sam is already pointing the thing towards the door and shining onto the wood.

“Listen, Sammy, the beast’s not there. That shield is useless now,” Dean tells him, but the moment he finishes his sentence, a bolt of lightning bursts past them and blows up the door. Large pieces of wood fly up in the air, and the whole building starts to rumble.

Instead of looking at the destruction happening in front of them, Dean turns around expecting to find the beast. Instead, he finds Castiel standing there. There’s still a white glow around him, and in the middle of his chest some bright light comes out.

“What the hell?” Dean mutters. Then he pushes Sam aside and runs towards the boy, pressing him against the side of the cliff with his arm underneath the boy’s chin. He’s got him in a strong hold. Castiel’s eyes widen in surprise, but he doesn’t fight him to escape. “What _are_ you?”

Castiel tilts his head to the side, confused about the question.

“I am Castiel,” he answers lowly.

“Oh don’t ‘ _I am Castiel’-_ me you asshat, _what_ are you?!” Dean finds himself almost shouting. He can feel Sam pulling at his shoulder, trying to get him to pull away, but Dean is too strong for his little brother.

“I am an Angel,” the boy then answers. Dean snorts, shaking his head and tightening his hold on the boy.

“Don’t tell us some bullshit story about _Angels_. Angels are supposed to have wings,” Dean counters. Castiel frowns a little bit and tilts his head to the side again. Then he takes Dean’s hand against his chest and effortlessly pulls it away without hurting him. Dean’s eyes widen. How is this possible? Sure, Castiel can be strong, but to just pull free without trying?

“But you have seen my wings, Dean,” Castiel says then. He shakes his limbs loose and walks past them to get closer to the building falling apart next to them. A loud crash makes the brothers turn around as well, where they can see some sort of pillar having fallen down against the ground, forming some sort of bridge to the other side.

Huh, talk about a lucky fall, Dean thinks to himself. Castiel, who watches it all happen, starts to take the first step to the pillar in an attempt to climb on it.

But, if the guy has wings, why doesn’t he just fly away?

“How have I seen your wings?” Dean shouts after him. He doesn’t really like all this cryptic stuff. The guy should just tell him outfront instead of making it a mystery. It’s Sam who answers for him.

“He’s that beast from the cave, Dean,” Sam tells him while pulling on his sleeve. “He can turn into a boy.”

“Then why didn’t he turn back when he was chained up?” Dean counters with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think he could,” Sam answers with a shrug. “The spears probably prevented him or something?”

Dean huffs out a breath, but when he looks back at Castiel, he finds the boy (Angel?) already standing on the other side of the platform, having walked over the pillar. Sam quickly follows him, practically running over the pillar and giving Dean another heart attack when he almost slips right in the middle. Sam, being Sam, quickly stands up again and runs further without complaint.

When Dean gets over the pillar, he doesn’t go as fast. His eyes are looking everywhere but under him, and he takes it step after step, arms raised to his side to get some stability in his stance. The last bit, he manages a small run to get off quickly, and then he’s on the other side. He lets out a loud breath, happy to have arrived safely.

Then he follows his brother and the boy into the building. It looks huge, but old. Every stone wall has some sort of drawings on them, but they seem faded and some of them even just simply destroyed by nature. There’s no source of light, except for the sunlight managing to glow through the windows.

There’s no describing the room they’re currently in. It’s huge, almost large enough to fit twenty of those beasts from before – Castiel, Dean’s mind quickly corrects, if he has to believe that the boy _is_ indeed the beast.

“What do you think this is?” Sam asks curiously. He looks truly in his element here, always being interested in ancient buildings and objects. Sometimes, whenever Dean goes hunting, he would find an old object like a small statue or a spoon or something, and he would bring it to his little brother. This place must be like heaven for him.

“It looks like some sort of… court room, maybe?” Dean thinks. He’s read about those type of rooms in one of Uncle Bobby’s old books, but never really saw one in real life. Their tribe doesn’t really have that, mostly just doing everything important in the main hut.

“I wish we could have seen it back in the day,” Sam says, passing his hand over a faded painting on the wall. There are some symbols drawn, probably an ancient language they can’t read. Dean doesn’t even put an effort in trying to read it.

“It’s a court room, yes,” Castiel suddenly says from a little further away. He’s holding some sort of stone in his hand with symbols on it. With his finger, he passes over them and speaks out some strange words Dean can’t understand. Then he looks up. “God is my judge, Court of the Angels.”

Dean raises an eyebrow and crosses his arms.

“You can read that crap?” he asks. Castiel nods.

“Yes, I can, though I have no memory of this place.” Castiel then stands up and drops the stone. He walks towards something that looks like a balcony, and starts looking outside. Even from where Dean is standing, he knows the boy is looking at the sky longingly.

“Great, so the only person who could tell us where we are doesn’t even remember anything?” Dean asks his brother. Sam just shrugs, nodding back towards a grand opening. Then he runs off. Dean sighs, quickly following him before he can get himself in even more trouble.

They don’t find anything that will lead them anywhere, but Sam still manages to pull another barrel out of the ground. Without hesitation he starts carrying it back to where the Angel is standing. As if sensing its arrival, Castiel turns around immediately, eyes now glowing a bright white light, much like the first time Dean saw the beast.

“Uhm,” He starts, itching to pull his brother away. Sam doesn’t sense any danger, though, and throws the barrel in Castiel’s direction. The boy looks down at it for a long few seconds, and then holds out his hand to touch it. The moment his fingers make contact with the barrel, a bright light illuminates the room, surrounding Castiel as he absorbs whatever is inside that piece of wood.

Dean shields his eyes when they start to hurt, but Sam watches it all happening with interest. After the light disappears again, Castiel is once more standing there, removing the sling from his shoulder and shaking his limbs loose once more.

“That was helpful, thank you Sam,” Castiel says, turning his neck around a bit until it gives a light crack. Then he sighs in relief. “I feel much better already.”

“Wait, so those things heal you?” Dean asks. Castiel nods. “What are they?”

Then the Angel shrugs. “I do not know. My knowledge about this place seems to have a large black mark on it, making it impossible for me to remember anything. I know I once _knew_ about it, but I cannot remember anything.”

The way he talks… it’s just so unreal. It also feels oddly coincidental that he’s lost his memory about practically anything useful. Yeah, Sam might be his biggest fan already, but Dean simply doesn’t trust the guy.

“Right, let’s move forward,” Dean mutters. He doesn’t want to spend too much time on this. He knows that, even if he tells the boy not to follow them, Sam will protest and Castiel will just ignore his word. It won’t really matter what Dean tells him to do.

They notice a broken stairwell leading upstairs. The only problem is that they can’t get up there since it’s too high. Even when Dean would carry Sam on his shoulders, the boy won’t be able to reach it. Besides, it would also mean one of them would have to stay behind, which is not something Dean will allow to happen.

“I can help,” Castiel suddenly says behind them. When Dean turns around, the boy is no longer standing there, instead revealing once more the gigantic beast from before. Sam shows a wide smile on his face, but Dean startles, realizing that the boy has been telling the actual _fucking_ truth. He does have wings…

Being unable to speak, Castiel lowers his head shortly before raising it again towards the start of the stairwell. An indication that they need to climb on him so he can push them up. Sam seems alright with that idea, climbing up Castiel’s feathers the moment he reaches his front paws. The Angel waits until Sam is standing on his head, and then lifts him to where Sam can jump back on the stair. Then Castiel lowers down again to get to Dean.

“No, no way! I’m not climbing on your freaking head,” Dean protests, but before he can say anything more, Castiel grabs him by the back of his shirt, jumps up on the wall with his front paws, and drops him back next to Sam.

Now there are more comfortable ways of transportation, but dangling out of a giant beast’s mouth by a shirt isn’t really one of them. While Sam starts to run up to get to the door they saw, Dean takes a few more seconds to catch his breath and slow his heart. Underneath them, Castiel starts to walk back until he’s far enough away. Then he pushes himself from the ground with strong paws, jumping up to the giant opening Sam just passed through.

The stairway shakes once more. Dean stands up after seeing Castiel’s tail disappear.

Right, let's keep going. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, did I say 5 chapters? Of course I meant 8, because I told myself a while ago that I shouldn't keep on making my chapters too long! Idiot that I am!

“Does it hurt? When you change?”

“No, it doesn’t. It mostly feels warm all over my body.”

“What do you prefer? Your large form or this one?”

“While I do enjoy being able to talk with you, I still feel stronger in my true form. Still, it’s so large that it’s not really easy to walk around.”

“And those barrels, what do you think are in them?”

This is what Dean has been dealing with for the past hour. So far, there’s nothing more than questions coming from Sam, and Castiel answering them truthfully – at least, as far as they know. Sam may adore him already, but Dean still doesn’t really trust that guy. If it were for him, he would never have been allowed to join.

They left the cold hallways behind them a little while back, instead now finding themselves in some sort of field with huge trees that go even over Castiel’s true form. The view to the tower is now a bit clearer, and Dean can see that there are some symbols written on the walls as well. He guesses they are the same as the ones on Sam’s arms and legs.

Yeah, come to think of it, what _are_ those markings? Sam has had Castiel observe them in silence when they decided to take a break in here. While Dean had been looking for some things to eat, the Angel had tried to decipher whatever code was written upon his little brother’s skin. By the time Dean got back, it turned out that Castiel couldn’t make anything out of it.

While it’s clear that Sam is the only one talking to Castiel, Dean still finds himself the victim of the most of his stares. With those glowing blue eyes – which are completely different from the black ones his true form has – it’s almost impossible even to look away. It’s like some sort of trance originating from that glow, as if it’s a weapon for a hunter to call in their prey.

“I do not know about the barrels,” Castiel says, repeating what he had said earlier. “I do know that absorbing the light makes me feel much stronger. My shoulder is by now completely healed, and I do not feel any more pain in my leg now.”

Sam nods, plucking another handful of berries from the pile Dean has collected, and putting one after one in his mouth.

“Why haven’t you escaped yet? You have wings, no?”

Dean sighs upon hearing another question. He’s already starting to feel extremely uncomfortable sitting out here in this open field. Anybody can just jump them without any trouble, especially with the high grass.

Not even the warm breeze of the wind can calm down his nerves. The sound of trees moving and leaves fluttering together is enough.

“My wings are hurting. I suspect they must be broken, because I cannot spread them like I’m supposed to.”

“What a coincidence,” Dean mutters with an eyeroll. Castiel falls quiet after that and Sam turns around with an annoyed look on his face. “Whatever, ignore me. I’m going to look around.”

After that, Dean stands up, leaving the ‘safe’ space of the grass. He can hear Sam protest about his leaving, but Dean finds it easy to ignore him; mostly he just wants to stay away from this Castiel-dude. So far, he has absolutely no clue how the guy got to stay with them, and the fact that he’s a gigantic monster with now apparently _broken_ wings makes him want to punch him right in the face.

There are traces of old buildings everywhere, but mostly everything looks destroyed by nature and time. What must have been temples are still standing in the background of the endless void in front of them, but there’s no clear way to get there without the help of flying. It’s obvious where the Angels come in, then.

Dean must be wandering around for ten minutes tops when he stumbles upon the ruins of another building. Once again, there aren’t any doors, instead just balconies giving him a view of the inside structure of the building. Where once there must have been a beautiful sight filled with people – this might have been some sort of market place, maybe – now there’s nothing other than dust and broken stone.

Maybe he should get the others before advancing? He shouldn’t get too far away from them; they have no idea what dangers might be lurking in this place.

In a hurry, he turns around to run back to his brother and the Angel, but then suddenly his eyes drop on something. It seems to be glowing, somehow; going from black to a shade of blue Dean hasn’t seen before. From where he is, it looks like the bars of a cage or something.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Dean walks back towards the glowing things at the end of the hallway. The walls are bare, whatever decoration there once was now completely destroyed by nature. In a way, these bars seem to have survived through it all.

An arena, that’s all he can manage in naming the thing. The glowing bars form some sort of barrier between this place and the sky, making it practically impossible to fly away from there.

_Angels must have fought here_ , his mind quickly tells him. There’s space enough to fit two of this giant monsters, but there’s no way for them to take wing and escape. From where he’s standing, he can see multiple scratches on the walls and the floor. In some places, there’s some dried blood stains that somebody mustn’t have managed to clean away. Just looking at it gives Dean some shivers, making him wonder who would make these creatures fight in here. Would it be to the death? Would there have been people watching?

That must be what these balconies are about. It wasn’t a market place, but a place where they would put their money to see who would win. The other arena must have been destroyed one way or another. This one, somehow, is still completely intact.

“Dean?” he hears Sam suddenly shout from behind him. They must have come to find him, he thinks.

“I’m here! You got to see this!” he shouts back, giving his brother a clue on where to find him. Without taking his eyes off the arena, he takes a few steps forward and dares to put his hand on the glowing bar. It’s a spontaneous movement, but much to his luck nothing happens. “You are being reckless, Dean Winchester,” he mutters to himself.

Behind him, multiple footsteps near up to where he is. With the way they’re suddenly slowing down, he knows his little brother is taking in the place around them.

“What is this?” the boy asks the moment he’s standing next to Dean, taking a look at the glowing bars decorating the ceiling. Dean shakes his head.

“I think some sort of fighting arena for the Angels, back in the day,” Dean mutters. He startles a bit when Castiel comes to stand next to him all of the sudden, but then he resumes just ignoring him once again. “Look at those scratch marks all around.”

“Who would do such a thing?” Sam wonders out loud. With one short look downwards, he sits down on the edge and drops down in another one of his spontaneous bursts. Dean can’t even stop him from doing so. Still completely fascinated, Sam starts inspecting the place.

“Believers,” Castiel suddenly grumbles, face looking furious all of the sudden. He seems hesitant on following Sam down, instead just staring wearily at the bars.

“Believers? What are _believers_?” Dean asks in confusion, but he doesn’t get an answer from Castiel, who suddenly starts to growl. Dean jumps back when his eyes suddenly go from glowing blue to a light purple.

“There’s some sort of antenna here, but it doesn’t seem to be working,” Sam shouts all of the sudden.

“How do you figure?” Dean asks, still eyeing Castiel suspiciously. The growling really isn’t settling.

“Well, it seems to be made from the same material as the bars, but it’s not glowing anymore,” Sam explains. Dean then nods, sitting himself down at the border as well. They might be able to find a way out of here, and if not, they can just climb back up. There seems to be some sort of make-shift ladder up here.

Much like Sam said, there’s another antenna inside a cage on the side. It’s a dark black, not glowing at all unlike the bars above them. That’s indication enough for Dean to know that this place has lost its function. Whatever the antenna is even for, he has no idea.

“Hey, sourpuss, if you don’t come down we’re leaving without you,” Dean says, getting out of the arena through the large open space, and ending up on some sort of bridge that leads to a gate. This must be where they kept the Angels, he concludes, though he’s not yet sure about that theory.

Once he’s at the gates, he quickly realizes that there’s no way out at all through here. There’s no handle for them to pull that will open the gate. At least not nearby.

Dean walks back a little bit to get a better view, and that’s when he sees it; the handle he’s been looking for. It’s high, hidden well enough and probably put out of the way so the Angels didn’t accidentally pull it during their fights. Having it so close but still out of reach makes it so annoyingly frustrating.

“Cas, get your ass down here! We need your heights!” Dean shouts back at the Angel still growling upstairs. Castiel looks up a little bit, tilts his head to the side, and then seems to sigh. In one smooth jump, he takes off from the edge and gets himself down on the floor, trying to join the brothers back at the gate.

But Sam was wrong; the antenna still works. That much is clear when it suddenly starts shining even harder than the bars upstairs. Castiel lets out a loud groan, pressing his hands against his ears as some sort of noise seems to bother him.

“Castiel?” Sam asks, suddenly worried. When he tries to run back to him, Dean quickly grabs him by his shirt to stop him.

“Don’t!” Dean warns him. Looking back at Castiel, he finds that the boy is no longer there, but now instead there’s the beast. Wings still tucked closely against his sides, grey feathers still looking ruffled and messy. His eyes – whenever he opens them – are still purple, and the two blue horns on his head are now glowing along.

Oh, crap. This must be how they got the Angels to fight. The antenna must have something to do with it. If that’s the case, they are not at all safe here.

It will get to Castiel, and there’s no way for the brothers to run, at all. They can’t climb up to the lever, and they can’t get through the gate. There’s nowhere for them to jump, nor to hide. They’re sitting ducks out here.

“Crap,” he mutters, right on the instant that Castiel lifts his head once more, staring right back at them with menacing purple eyes. Dean gulps once in panic, feeling his heart race inside his throat. He keeps Sam behind him, but he already knows that they’re terribly outmatched. Even if Sam takes out the mirror, they won’t be fast enough to use it.

Castiel growls once more, taking a stiff stance while slowly jumping towards the two brothers in a way a cat would do when hunting mice. Because that’s all they are to the Angel; rodent. Dean should have known that bringing the Angel along wasn’t a smart idea. Of course it would lead to their certain doom.

Out of reflex, he grabs his small knife, knowing full well that it probably won’t hurt Castiel at all.

“Crap, crap, crap!”

Castiel is getting closer. Sam is making scared sounds. The brothers have their backs pressed against the gate. This is going to be the end.

But that’s when he sees it; the makeshift ladder from the arena. The one he said they would be able to climb. If somehow they can get there, they can climb back up – or he’s going to make damn sure Sam would. They could wait out until Castiel gets back to himself, or if he would stay like this they would continue on finding their way out on their own.

They just need to get to the ladder.

Castiel is now right in front of them, looking at them like they’re nothing more than prey. Dean’s eyes glance downwards. Through his legs, under his belly. That’s the way for them to get away from there. Castiel is too big to make an easy turn on this bridge. If they do this here, he will lose time in trying to turn without falling down in the darkness.

“Run, Sammy!” Dean shouts, grabbing his brother’s hand and pulling him along as he hurries underneath Castiel’s chest. Much like Dean expected, Castiel is taken by surprise. He jumps back one in confusion, but Dean still manages to maneuver his little brother away from the Angel. Then, without much thinking about it, he quickly pushes his brother towards the pieces in the wall they would climb up on.

“Climb up!” Dean orders him, and Sam nods without any complaint. Familiar with how to climb up places, the boy starts to put his hands where necessary, and pulls himself up in an attempt to be hasty. Dean dares to get a quick look around, seeing that Castiel is still trying to turn around on the small bridge. His confusion has bought them some time, but it’s already running out.

Sam is almost halfway there when Castiel is back on his feet. Crap, Dean is now completely sure that he’s not going to be as lucky as his brother. There’s no way the two of them will be able to climb at the same time.

So he’s not pressuring his brother to go faster. Right now, he’s almost safe. Instead, Dean gives his small knife a long look, he squeezes the handle a little bit, and then he shakes his head. He knows he’s not going to make it, but there’s no way he’s going to go down without at least an attempt to fight.

Castiel is once again nearing them, jumping that same way as before. Dean doesn’t look away from his purple gaze, trying to find that familiar glowing blue once more but seeing nothing of it. The friendly – though suspicious – creature from earlier is completely gone.

“Dean, hurry up!” Sam starts to shout. Dean huffs out a laugh. Then he looks up, smirking back at his brother, who is almost at the top.

“Get home safely, little bro,” Dean says. Sam’s eyes widen, and right when he wants to shout something back, Dean lets out a loud cry and jumps forward with the knife in his hands, pointing it right at Castiel. The Angel looks unimpressed, and before Dean can even scratch his skin with the knife, he’s suddenly pushed aside by one of his gigantic paws. With a hard crash, he smashes against the wall, making him see dark spots in front of his eyes.

“DEAN!”

Dean shakes his head. Sam needs to go to the top, _now!_ Castiel didn’t even pay attention to him, which means he’s not wat the Angel is after. That could only mean one thing, he wants Sammy.

“Get… away…” Dean mumbles, only to spit out a bit of blood. He bit his tongue when he collided against the wall. When he tries to breathe, he starts coughing to get it out of his air ways. As the dark spots slowly start to disappear again, he sees the large creature that is Castiel nearing his brother once more. Like a cat, he starts to paw at Sam. It’s like he’s playing with his food before eating it. Dean spits out more blood.

“Castiel! No!” Sam begs. Castiel is gone, though. Instead, now standing in front of them, is the beast they were all told about; the great man-eating monster that would swallow them whole without a second thought about it.

“Cas-“ Dean starts in an attempt to stop the Angel, one more time. But it’s too late. As the dark spots start to get too much in front of his eyes, Dean’s head falls down to the ground the moment he sees his little brother disappear inside the beast’s mouth.

 

* * *

 

 

“Dean.”

There’s a gentle shake on his arm. Dean waves it away. He’s too tired to communicate with anybody.

Another shake. Dean groans and presses his face back in his arm. He really doesn’t want to be awake right now. Whatever he’s done last night, it must have been quite the party.

“Dean, c’mon, you need to get up.”

Sammy. It’s his little brother. If he needs Dean awake, it must be for a good reason, right? Dean starts to turn, feeling some stones bite him in his back in the process. His neck is stiff, and his head feels like it’s about to explode.

Wait… stones?

Dean’s eyes fly open, and the light is almost blinding. He gasps, as if he hasn’t been breathing for the past minute and is only now remembering to do so.

Sammy. It hurts to think about him. He remembers all too vividly, despite the blacking out. His little brother, disappearing in that… _monster’s_ mouth. Without looking at it, Dean grasps for the knife he knows fell next to him. The moment his fingers close around it, he starts to push himself back up.

“Dean, wait a moment,” someone says. Someone sounding just like Sam, but it must be a trick. Sammy’s gone, and it’s all because of that-

Suddenly, there’s a slap on his face. Dean gasps for breath once more and lands on his back.

“Dean, seriously, stop avenging me, I’m alright.”

It just sounds _so much_ like Sammy. Dean opens his eyes once more, but this time trying to actually focus on things. That’s when he sees that, indeed, his younger brother is sitting next to him, not looking like he’s been eaten alive and spit back out.

There _is_ something different, though.

“Sam,” Dean gasps out, not really believing what he’s seeing. His little brother

Alive.

Breathing.

Not eaten.

Dean moves instinctively, wrapping his arms around the boy with such a force that they both fall back on the ground. Sam lets out a laugh, but it’s short and unsure, as if he’s trying to be happy but knows that there’s something serious still happening around them.

“Dean,” Sam starts, trying to pull away from the hug but unable to do so. Dean doesn’t want to let go, at all. The moment he blacked out, he thought for sure that his little brother would be dead. He had also even hoped not to wake up at all, as well. To find Sammy still alive… it’s like the biggest relief ever.

“Dean, there’s something wrong with Castiel.”

Oh, great. _That_ dude. Honestly, Dean couldn’t care any less about the monster that almost ate his little brother.

“Let him be, we’ll get out of here on our own,” Dean counters. He lets go of Sam at last and tries to get up again. The moment he’s back on his feet, he grabs Sam by the arms, and that’s when he sees it. The marks, now right under his chin. “Dude, you’ve got even more of those things now.”

Dean points towards his arms and neck, noting how they look even more black than before. Sam looks down at his arms, observing the markings now covering the back of his hands. He nods in agreement, not seeming to worried about it.

“I remember… after he… swallowed me,” Sam starts, and Dean lets out a sound that comes close to a growl, earning him an angry look from Sam. “I got some weird images. Flying over the village, falling down, being bound… It looked weird, and it didn’t really make sense.”

Castiel is in his true form, lying on the ground, unmoving other than his heavy breathing. His eyes are closed, and his chest goes up and down in a fast tempo that would insinuate that he’s in pain. Dean just walks him by, not wanting to pay more attention to him than necessary. Once he’s back at the makeshift ladder, he starts climbing it first.

“Dean, I think they were Castiel’s memories, somehow,” Sam continues. Dean stops in his tracks and sighs, pressing his face against the wall. Right now, all he wants to do is to just forget that beast and get on with their lives.

“Listen, Sammy, I know you like the guy, but you saw what he did. We got lucky this time, but I’m pretty sure it won’t happen a second time,” Dean says calmly, though inside he feels close to exploding. In the corner of his eyes, he sees Castiel’s tail hanging down the side, and before Dean can reach the top, he jumps back down. “Wait a minute…”

“Dean?” Sam asks in confusion. Dean shakes his head and holds up his hand. Then he walks back to the bridge, looking down at the ground underneath him.

“There’s a path underneath here,” Dean says, inspecting it a little closer. Sam quickly follows him, trying to see what Dean sees, but obviously not catching his point. When Dean turns around, he sees exactly what he wants to see. He points towards Castiel’s tail, and smirks a bit. “There.”

Underneath the arena is a small path, probably something for the plumbing of this place, since there’s water running beneath them in the bridge. One way or another, that lever for the gate must be reachable, and Dean’s pretty sure this path has something to do with it.

In silence, Dean runs back towards Castiel. He ignores the beast mostly, only just grabbing a few feathers on his tail and trying to get a good grip. It’s a high drop if he would lose his balance, and he does not want  to experience it ever in his life.

“Dean, what are you doing?” Sam asks when Dean starts to climb down carefully, trying not to look at the endless drop underneath him.

“Trying to find another way out of here,” Dean answers, taking a deep breath when he reaches the end of the tail and has to swing himself to the side to get down safely. “Okay, okay, okay, okay…”

One, two, three, _jump_!

With a loud grunt, Dean lands with his bare feet into the cold water. He can’t keep his balance, and ends up falling forward onto his knees, scraping the skin on them once more. Pretty soon he won’t be having any skin left.

He was right to think there was a path, but much to his chagrin he comes to realize that it’s going to be wet.

“Dean?” Sam asks from upstairs. Dean quickly hurries to the side.

“Stay up there, Sammy, I’ll get that gate open, alright?”

“Okay.”

After that, Dean hurries back to the bridge, kneeling down despite the pain and trying to make himself as small as possible. Slowly, he advances forward. The light catches on him when he gets under the rosters of the bridge, and he’s pretty sure he can hear Sam’s footsteps following him.

“Don’t you think it would have been smarter if I would have gone down there? I’m much smaller?” Sam suddenly asks. Dean grunts.

“Pretty late for that, don’t you think?” he grumbles. Besides, he wouldn’t have let Sam gone alone in here. That shit’s dangerous!

It’s a relief once he gets to the end of the narrow path. With a low grunt, he pushes himself back outside, stretching his back and cracking his neck loose. He probably swallowed too much of that water, since he’s got a disgusting taste in his mouth.

After walking into another hallway, he comes across a ladder. He looks around a bit, seeing nothing else around him, so with another grunt he starts to climb up, despite the ache in his entire body. He also notices his knees are bloodied, but most of it seems to have been washed away by the sewer water – if that’s what it was.

Once he’s up, he inspects the room around him. He can see Sam down there, standing next to the gate, looking up at him. The moment his little brother sees him, he starts to wave excitedly. Dean just snorts and waves back for a short second.

“I’m going to open the gate now, you stay there!” he says. Sam waves him off, meaning that he won’t listen to him. Dean just rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Surely, nothing bad can be behind that gate.

The lever is stiffer this time. Dean has to put all his weight onto it to make it even move, and after ten seconds of throwing angry words at it, Dean falls down on the ground when it gives. With a loud noise, the gate starts to lift up slowly.

“I’ll check it out!” he hears his little brother say before Dean can respond to it. Quickly, Dean scrambles back upright and looks back down where his brother had just been. He’s not too surprised, but he would have preferred if his brother would have been less predictable.

Not ten seconds after entering, Sam is running back outside, hurrying himself towards Castiel’s sleeping form in the arena.

“Stay up there, Dean!” Sam shouts, and Dean snorts from the irony. What did he find now that makes him so impatient to wake up Castiel so quickly? Dean tries to lean down and get a look, only to come face to face with a pair of black eyes.

“Oh crap!” he mutters, pulling away from the thing that seems to be made of shadows. Walking on the bridge, there appears to be more of them. They’re walking towards Sam, without giving Dean any more attention.

Sam is shaking Castiel, but the Angel doesn’t move. Dean wants to shout at him, to tell him that he just needs to climb back up the way he had wanted to do before they got knocked out by Cas, but he knows the boy won’t hear him at all in his panic.

Dean can’t stay up here and watch how they will take his little brother away. That’s just not who he is. So the moment the other shadow-monster starts to walk away, Dean jumps off the edge without a sound, and fishes the knife back out from his pocket. It’s a wonder the thing didn’t get lost back in the sewers.

Dean hurries towards the first shadow – the one that had stared right at him – and holds out the knife. Without hesitation, he pushes the weapon in the beast’s back, making it shriek in pain before exploding in clouds of smoke. Dean coughs at the sudden inhalation, waving it away to get it out of his face.

He should have gotten away from there immediately. He should have pressed the knife in the creature’s chest and run off immediately, without any hesitation. Only that way, he wouldn’t have found himself in the situation where two of these monsters are pointedly looking at him (probably, since they don’t really have a face) before reaching out for him.

“ _Castiel! Wake up Castiel!”_ he hears his little brother call out in fear. Dean wants to comfort him, to make sure that he isn’t afraid of anything, but he feels like his heart is about to escape from his chest as it is with black hands suddenly grabbing for him. He manages to avoid them twice, running through the two figures in an attempt to join with his brother.

But that’s when one of the creatures grabs him, snatching him back by his shirt. Its hold on him is strong – too strong for Dean to escape out of. Dean grunts, scratches and kicks, but nothing helps.

The ground starts to tremble when Dean lets out a scream of frustration. It’s almost as if Dean is the cause of the sudden earthquake, making him shut his mouth immediately. The monsters, too, have stilled, heads turned back towards Sam and the Angel – who is now standing with eyes furiously purple. A loud growl escapes the beast’s mouth as it stares at the creature holding Dean, as if it’s personally insulted it would try to take Dean away.

“Oh lord, no,” Dean mutters the moment he sees Castiel running towards them, slapping one paw towards the creature and making it disappear in smoke the same way the one did after being stabbed. The creatures make spears appear out of thin air, pointing it at Castiel and planting one or two of them into his flesh. Even while being shaken around in the sudden commotion, Dean winces at the sight of it. That must hurt a lot, he thinks.

Before he can blink, Castiel destroys another one of those monsters, making it fly in the air before turning into smoke. As the beast starts to get closer, Dean quickly comes to the realization that, soon, Castiel will be slapping his paw to the monster holding Dean, meaning that he’ll be shaken around much more. That could lead to him falling over the edge of the bridge, which is something he really wants to avoid.

So, with all the power he has, Dean starts to struggle even harder than before. He feels that the monster’s attention is not really on him anymore, meaning that its grip on him is not that strong. Dean manages to twist and turn a bit before kicking the thing where its stomach should be, making it double over in an inaudible gasp and dropping Dean on the floor. The teenager feels all his breath escaping from his lungs, but he knows he can’t linger too long.

With all the force he has, he pushes himself from the ground, getting back on his two feet and running back towards the Angel protecting him even before getting a good balance. Just when he’s about to fall, Castiel reaches out his paw to grab him and lift him back up towards his back. Dean lets out another shout when Castiel drops him again, but feels like he can finally relax a little bit when feeling his grey feathers underneath his hands.

Castiel doesn’t take long to destroy the monsters, but Dean keeps his eyes closed the entire time, feeling his stomach disagree strongly with the movement of giant monster underneath him. He’s aware that his heart is beating faster than normal, and that he’s breathing much more than should be permitted, but the moment Castiel stops moving, Dean lets go of his feathers and rolls on his back to look back up at the ceiling – or the cage above them.

A soft, friendly growl comes out of the creature underneath him. Then a warm breath. Dean ignores it, until there’s the sound of small footsteps running up to him.

“Dean?”

Dean jumps back up, remembering his little brother who has somehow managed to get this comatose bastard awake when they needed him most. The little brother who had been chased by those monsters as much as Dean has.

“Sammy!” Dean shouts, jumping off Cas without thinking about it and landing on the ground with a pain in his knee but ignoring it. The moment Sam is in front of him, Dean wraps his arms around him and holds him close. There’s no way he’s going to let go now. He’s been too close to losing him already.

Sam returns the hug with a force just as strong, pressing his face in Dean’s shoulder and small hands gripping his shirt tightly.

“You alright?” Dean asks after pulling back, feeling the sudden need to look his brother over and check for wounds. On the first sight, there’s nothing really to be seen.

“I’m fine,” Sam says, pushing Dean’s searching hands away. After making sure that there’s not even a scratch on Sammy’s skin, Dean suddenly pinches his arm with what he hopes is the most furious look he’s ever managed. Sam shouts in surprise, quickly rubbing the skin Dean attacked just now and letting out a disagreeing ‘hey!’. The look he gives Dean is full of confusion. “What was that for?”

“I _told_ you to wait! I _TOLD_ you not to get in there before I got down! You just don’t listen, do you?!” Dean shouts, still happy that his brother made it out but also extremely angry at his impulsive choices. Had Sam just listened to him, this crap wouldn’t have happened! The kid should be extremely grateful that Cas was here to save their asses.

“I know, I’m sorry, I just got curious,” Sam admits in shame. Dean rolls his eyes and pinches his other arm once more before turning back around. Then he lets out a sigh, and dares to look back up towards Cas’ black, dark eyes observing the two.

“Listen, Cas, I know that crap you pulled – you know, eating Sam – that wasn’t cool. But still, you somehow spit him back out and then saved my ass, so… Thanks, I guess.”

Cas turns his head to the side a bit before leaning forward again, pressing his nose against Dean’s chest and closing his eyes while he waits for Dean to gently rub the feathers on his face. Dean rolls his eyes, but still does it, feeling his fingers go through the soft things and taking the bits of blood out of them. Then he scrapes his throat and pulls away, pointing towards the spears still poking out of Cas’ shoulders.

“Now, how about I get those things out of you?”

There’s another happy growl.


End file.
